Postgame Quotes: Maryland 27, Virginia 26

“I am very happy for our players and coaches for battling for a full 60 minutes and coming away with a win. We had to have guys step up today and they did. We are getting better. We are getting closer. It was true team effort today. Guys understand if you can stick together as a team and play hard you have a chance to be successful. I thought Caleb Rowe came in and did a really good job. He made some mistakes, but he did what he was supposed to do and that is lead his team to victory. Deon Long had a huge day. Stefon (Diggs) came back and did some things today. I was on them pretty good last Sunday and they responded. This is something that will help us as we move forward. It is good to beat Virginia in the last time we will play them for the foreseeable future. I am very, very proud of our team.”

“We called the go-route and he put the ball in a position where Deon (Long) had an opportunity to go and make the catch. It was a fabulous catch. Those are the things that Deon can do. That is a good lesson for Caleb and C.J. (Brown). If you put the ball in a position where he and Stefon can go fight and jump, they are going to be able to make some plays. We have to do more of that.”

On Rowe bouncing back from negative plays:

“He is a gunslinger. He has matured a lot from last year to this year. He can put that stuff behind him now. That is something we try to talk about. When the play is over you put it behind you and move forward. Last year, I am not sure he would have been able to put it behind him. Now he is more mature and understands. I thought he played well enough for us to win tonight, which is the bottom-line.”

“We knew we needed to be able to run the ball. For us to be successful, we are going to have to be able to run the ball. I thought Brandon did a good job today. He is going to have to continue to do a good job. Albert (Reid) and Jacquille (Veii) did some good things as well. Hopefully, we can continue to do that. We are going to have to do that. The screen play that Brandon took was unbelievable. Deon did a heck of a job there blocking.”

On beating ACC rival Virginia:

“It’s exciting because we won. That’s the biggest thing. And we know that’s probably the biggest rivalry that we have in football here at the University of Maryland. To be able to beat them for the last time, I think it’s something special. I know that we got their best game today. And we knew that we were going to get their best game because of the situation that they were in. But, it’s good to win. It doesn’t matter how you win. Just like I say all the time, any win’s a good win.”

On Maryland defense in the red zone:

“The one thing that you want to be able to do, is you always want to be a good red zone defense. If people get the ball down there, the one thing you want to do is you don’t want to give them touchdowns, you want to give them field goals.”

On stopping touchdown plays:

“It’s a mentality. We’re not there yet with that mentality, but as long as the ball hasn’t crossed the goal line, you’ve got a chance. And that’s the mentality that we’re trying to instill in our guys all the time. As long as the ball’s there, we keep playing and keep them out of the end zone.”

On team psyche going into today’s game:

“I’ll tell you the truth, I was nervous coming into this game. I wasn’t sure. I saw things in practice this week, but with where we were and all the things that transpired going into the Florida State game, and then what happened in the Florida State game, I wasn’t sure coming into today. I thought our guys would respond and really do a good thing, but we’re young. We’re real young.”

On Virginia’s Jake McGee:

“We knew he was a good tight end. I thought A.J. Hendy did some good things out there. He was on him pretty good a couple of the times the quarterback made a good throw and the kid made a good catch. That’s going to happen in the game of football. But they do a good job with the tight ends. I guess maybe they thought they had a mismatch there, but again, I thought A.J. competed and never hung his head and kept battling. I have a lot of confidence in him and he’ll keep getting better.”

On third down penalties:

“We’ve just got to have good fundamentals and good techniques. I thought the offsides, Marcus (Whitfield) was trying to get a jump but it was probably pretty close. I’ll have to watch the film and see. But I can’t fault the kid on that kind of effort when he’s going hard like that.”

On how similar this game was compared to his start last year against NC State:

“After the game everyone was joking around about how it was like the NC State game. The tables were turned this time. It is a great feeling to win, and I am happy our team played well. Deon [Long] made a heck of a catch, and I am just happy the tables turned in our favor.”

“He just made a great catch. Deon is a great player and I have all of the trust in the world in him. I just gave him a jump ball and he came down with it.”

On if he was nervous for the game:

“I really didn’t settle in until the second half. That is just me being ready for the game, and I felt almost like I was too ready. Once I got settled in I made a few good plays here and there. Luckily the team came up with the victory and our team played great.”

“They went to the film room just like we did. They hit some things, like some slips here and there, that they were well prepared for. Mostly cutbacks and simple things like that are what we need to improve on.”

“It’s surreal for me. It didn’t really seem like it because there was still time on the clock but looking back at it, it is definitely a good feeling. My second career touchdown is a game winning touchdown, so it’s a good feeling.”

On this game’s similarity to last year’s loss to NC State:

“It really shows where we are as a team, being able to pull off a victory like that just says a lot about our team.”

“It was a fade-comeback, but the way they were playing it the corner was hard and the safety came down. I guess he saw Caleb [Rowe] scrambling out. The corner was a little ahead of me and the safety was down so I just ran as fast as I could and he gave me a chance to catch so I came through for him.”

On his emotions following the catch:

“Just to know that our team needed that play or we would have had to punt the ball and to hear the crowd react the way they did; it was a good feeling.”

On the team’s mood heading into the final drive:

“We never got down, we depend on one another, and we lean on one another like we’re brothers. We just look to our playmakers to make plays and that’s what we had to do.”

“It means a lot because it was a tough loss and we definitely had to bounce back. It was definitely getting our pride back, our sense of Maryland pride. The fact that we got the victory, 5-1 that’s not too bad.”

“He played great coming in there, young quarterback stepping in there for C.J. Brown. I think he did what he had to do.”

On the rivalry with Virginia:

“It’s a slight rivalry; I know a lot of players on their team. I went to school with a couple of players on their team so playing against them was fun.”

Virginia Head Coach Mike London

Opening Statement

“I’m very proud of the team. I’m very proud of the effort. Obviously, we weren’t good enough to win the game but there were a lot of things that went on that we can improve upon. That’s the aim, that’s the goal. Obviously, we’ve got to do better to give us the opportunity to win the game at the end. Alec [Vozenilek] should not shoulder the blame or anything like that. That’s his first miss since he’s been kicking. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way the game goes sometimes. The kids were resilient. I’m really proud of their effort. We’ve got to do better so we have the opportunity to win games like that.”

On the playcalling on the final drive:

“I wouldn’t characterize it as being conservative. The biggest thing is to put yourself into a position where the playmakers can help extend the drives or get those first downs or get those points. You’ve got to give Maryland credit, they did a good job defensively on some things we tried to do. It came down to one last opportunity and I guess it was wide right.”

On not scoring touchdowns in the red zone:

“When you get down in the red zone, you want to score points, but you want to get touchdowns preferably. If you don’t, then you have to get those three point opportunities. When you look at it, only three points didn’t add up to enough. One more score in the red zone obviously could have been the difference in the game. Anytime you get down in the red zone, you want points. You’d like to get touchdowns, but you want to make sure to not come away with zero.”

On the third and 21:

“You’ve got to go up and make that play and it’s a whole different story. We talk about the missed field goal at the end, but third and 21 like that; you get off the field. It’s a critical difference. It gets down to those four or five plays again that you’re on the positive side of. Again, I feel good about the team. There was progress that was made today. I think we had 500 total yards. We’ve just got to put it all together and stay positive with the players. It’s a hurt locker room in there to get that close and have that opportunity go against us.”

On winning the turnover margin and losing the game:

“If you’re plus three in the turnover margin, the odds of winning the game go up. It’s frustrating from the standpoint of having what we did and not having to the opportunity to be on the plus end of [the game]. We make the field goal and it’s a moot point right now, but you want to win the game, pretty, ugly, you want to win games. Progress was made offensively, but we’ve got a ways to go and we just need to keep finding ways to get points in those red zone areas and capitalizing when we do get turnovers.”

Virginia Players

Cornerback DreQuan Hoskey

On Maryland’s numerous big plays:

“It wasn’t really frustrating. When they made a big play we just kind of sucked it up and moved on to the next one.”

On first impressions of Maryland’s Quarterback play:

“I think he was a pretty good quarterback. I mean he could make some good plays. He did his job. That’s about it.”

Tailback Kevin Parks

On the last second field goal attempt:

“To be honest, I didn’t even watch it. I turned my back. It is something I always do. On game winners I don’t want to see it, so I don’t look and my boys tell me if we made it or not. The game doesn’t come down to Alec’s kick. We make some plays in the first quarter when we are on the goal-line and get stopped and the game could be different.”

On not converting TDs in the red-zone:

“Yes, you could say that. When we are in the red-zone we have to put points on the board. We want touchdowns not field goals, but that’s what didn’t happen today.”

On any reason why they didn’t convert in the red-zone:

“They [Maryland] put everyone on the line, and even though they did that, we still had to be tough. I put some blame on me. I have to get in there [end-zone] regardless, jump over the pile, leap and leave no doubt. Obviously that didn’t happen, so this is the result of the game.”

Punter/Placekicker Alec Vozenilek:

On what’s going through his mind pre-snap on the last field goal:

“You dream about stuff like that as a kid. It was a great opportunity. The team believed in me and I believed in myself, I just pushed it right.”

On what he believes his range is:

“50 [yards] and in for sure. It was a makeable field goal.”

On kicking field goals in the red zone:

“We want to score touchdowns. It was third and two at the two yard line, but we want to score touchdowns. If it’s fourth down they send the field goal unit out there, and I do my job.”

On how the final field goal attempt felt off his foot:

“I could kind of feel it a little bit, but I wasn’t sure until I looked up.”

Tight End Jake McGee:

On the frustration of not being able to finish:

“It’s difficult. It’s one of those things where you see improvement, but you get inside the five and we’re getting stuffed. It’s one of those things where you’ve got to take it to the next level and eventually turn these losses into wins. Enough is enough, at some point you just have to punch them in.”

On the sense of urgency and frustration:

“That’s about as bad as a loss gets right there. It’s Maryland, a rival, away, last game. You have a chance to win the game, and it’s one thing after another and you lose my a couple points.”

Quarterback David Watford

On the time management in last drive:

“Coach just wanted to run the clock out and kick the field goal. I was fine with that and I probably should have centered the ball when I had the chance, instead of taking it as far left as I did.”

On doing well on offense and still losing:

“It hurts. Any loss hurts no matter what. We fought hard until the end. That is what I am most proud of from my guys. It was a tough game, but we battled and we fought. They threw punches and we threw punches back. It was a hard one. Just knowing that we didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we did have, is the toughest part for me.”

Offensive Tackle Luke Bowanko

On the team’s offensive standpoint:

“The coach put a good game plan together and Maryland played a great defense. I think guys just executed a lot cleaner than last week, without the turnovers and penalties. Those count up for some yards and the running back we’re hitting full down hill. It was just a lot of choppy football in in there, but we’re making holes and the execution was better. The bottom line is we need to get points on the board.”